Century Radio prepared a briefing document for the former minister for communications, Mr Ray Burke, without prior negotiations with RTE, in anticipation of his making a directive on the crucial matter of transmission costs, the Flood tribunal was told yesterday.
Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, cited a letter dated November 11th, 1988, to Century's co-founder, Mr James Stafford, from a key technical adviser, Prof Ray Hills, former head of the Independent Broadcasting Authority's Communications Services division (IBACS) in the UK.
The letter dealt with the issue of maintenance costs for the proposed new commercial radio station and noted that RTE wanted £320,000 a year, whereas Century was offering to pay only £30,000. Prof Hills advised caution because the RTE offer made economic sense on the grounds of two elements, equipment maintenance and infrastructure.
He urged Century to negotiate with RTE and concluded that if agreement could not be reached, they could fall back on Section 16 of the Radio and Telegraphy Act, 1988, under which the Minister could issue a directive, in effect fixing the cost regardless of the price set by RTE or offered by the applicant for a commercial broadcasting licence.
Mr Hanratty asked Mr Stafford why he had decided to brief the minister on transmission charges on December 8th, 1988. Prof Hills had given his observations on the figures presented and asked for further information. So why had he prepared the briefing document for the minister "at this point in time?"
He had not given it to Mr Burke personally, recalled the former Century director. It was his intention to prepare it and give it to his co-director, Mr Oliver Barry, Mr Stafford said. "It was up to Mr Barry whether he would give it to the minister."
The chairman, Mr Justice Flood, asked how Mr Stafford thought Mr Burke's intervention could affect the application. The Century directors felt Mr Burke should be briefed on what they felt were exceptional costs demanded by RTE, replied Mr Stafford.
Yet they had sought a "Section 16" directive before even applying for the licence, Mr Hanratty insisted. That position arose as a result of the "frustration we had with RTE", replied the former Century director.
"Prof Hills had advised you to negotiate with RTE. You made no attempt to do that and here you were briefing the minister," counsel for the tribunal said. It appeared from the documentary evidence that Century had at no stage prior to its application put a figure on the table.
Mr Stafford disputed this and said RTE had become aware of its figure of £375,000. There had been a number of discussions with them, he said, and these had been `'a complete waste of time". However, he could not recall when the meetings had taken place or who was there.
Mr Hanratty drew the former Century director's attention to written evidence submitted by Prof Hills which indicated he had not advised the transmission figure of £375,000 on which the IRTC had considered Century's favourable licence application. That figure had come about, he submitted, as Mr Stafford's own suggestion to IBACS or Prof Hills, who had set up as an independent consultant.
Mr Stafford insisted, however, that since Prof Hills was Century's technical adviser and IBACS was entitled to cite his recommendations as a renowned specialist, he would have acted on their advice, not the other way round.
He intended to dispute the former technical adviser's evidence in this regard when he came before the tribunal, he indicated.